Hi Listers, This might not be a new query to some of you. I am seeking help or advice. I will be in Maryland next week to do research and this is my dilemma: [African-American Research] The information I have is from a copy of granddad's SSN Application, and that's all I have to go on. According to all the records I've gathered Oscar would have been 17 years old in 1900 and had probably left Virginia and gone to Doubs, MD. in 1896. He married Sophie Proctor in 1905 and resided in Buckeystown, MD where he stayed the remainder of his life. In 1925/26 he married his 2nd wife Sophie Lawson-Whalen. I was trying to seek his parentage, which his SSN Application states is Peter Baltimore JACKSON and Harriet THORNTON and that they were in Upperville, VA in 1883 when he was born. His Name on the SSN Application is Oscar Baltimore JACKSON. The 1910 census shows him as a General Farmer and the 1920 census shows him as a laborer for the steam railroad, with both locations being Frederick County, MD. I can't find him on the 1900 census and I do not know of any siblings. The court has no records on him (if I'm checking the right one). <smile> Everyone who has tried to help me says the same thing "He's GOT to be somewhere". Unfortunately he was a very closed mouth person and never talked about his family and for some reason his stepchildren never asked. My dad was the only child born of the second marriage. His first wife and he had three children Serena, Virgie and William. None are alive and I didn't know them. All stepchildren and my father are known to me, but none are of help. My father is the only sibling still alive. Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. Sincerely, Leona (Lee) Jackson Delaware